It was a warm day at the Burrow and whilst Ron, Harry and the rest of the boys had gone to enjoy a game of Quidditch, Hermione and Ginny were helping Molly with a bit of spring cleaning. Hermione had just finished dusting in the living room as Ginny cleaned the windows from the outside. Molly suddenly strutted into the living room, looking a little worn out as she took a seat in her favourite armchair, sighing as she did so.
"I've just about finished up in here. Is there anything else I can help with, Molly?", Hermione asked.
"Oh, bother! Now that you mention it, I forgot to bring down some of Ron's old clothes from the attic upstairs. I was going to wash them and give them to Andromeda for little Teddy. Would you mind fetching them for me, dear? My old legs aren't what they used to be", she chuckled as she gently massaged her sore calves. Hermione nodded happily before she headed towards the stairs. "They're in the wardrobe, love. And, don't worry about that ghoul, he's usually out and about during the day", she told her. Hermione smiled warmly and gave her a quick nod before making her way up the stairs. She made her way to the top of the house where the old dusty attic waited for her. The door creaked as if it hadn't been opened in years as Hermione cautiously entered. The room was quite bare, only occupied by a dresser, a few cobwebs and an old oak wardrobe that stood lonely in the far corner. Hermione approached the wardrobe, opening it casually only to be blown back, hitting the floor with a large bang. She sat up, rubbing her head as she let her eyes readjust to her surroundings. To her surprise, Ron stood directly in front of her, offering out his hand.
"Ron? I didn't hear you come in", she said suspiciously. "I must have tripped", she laughed nervously as she took his hand, allowing him to help her up. But, Ron only helped Hermione up half way before letting go of her hand. Hermione hit the floor with another loud thud as she shot him a shocked expression. "Ronald Weasley, have you completely lost your mind!", she raised her voice. But, Ron didn't respond. He only gave her a sinister smile as Hermione suddenly heard a girlish giggle coming from behind the wardrobe. Hermione stood to her feet, dusting herself down as she looked at Ron, completely perplexed by his sudden change in attitude and the unexplainable sound of laughter when suddenly, Padma Patil poked her head around the wardrobe, still giggling as she scurried towards them. "Padma? What are you doing here?", Hermione asked, growing more bewildered by the second.
"Padma's helping me come to my senses", Ron suddenly spoke as Padma snaked her hands up and down his chest from behind. Hermione's heart began to thud loudly in her chest as Padma began to trace soft kisses up and down Ron's jawline.
"Ron, what's -"
"Why put up with you, when I could have her?", Ron cut Hermione off as her eyes began to swim with tears. "I could have anyone", he continued to smirk menacingly. He wasn't even talking like himself she thought, as he began to run his fingers through Padma's long jet-black hair. In a turn of events, Ron took Padma by the hand as he spun her around on the spot. Padma's lengthy dark hair suddenly began to turn a dirty blonde colour as he spun her a final time to reveal that Padma had taken the form of Lavender Brown. Hermione came to a quick realisation as Lavender began to run her fingers through Ron's hair lustfully. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Lavender had tragically passed away during the battle. This was a boggart. But as she quickly reached for her wand in the back pocket of her jeans, Hermione suddenly stopped as she thought for a moment. The last time she had faced a boggart it had taken the form of Professor McGonagall telling her she had failed her exams. Could a boggart change? Hermione's hand still hovered over her wand as Ron forced Lavender to the wall, crashing his lips into hers with such power that Hermione was sure it must have hurt. But it didn't seem to hurt at all as Lavender jumped up slightly so that she could wrap her legs firmly around Ron's waist. Hermione's heart felt as though it was about to drop out of her as she continued to watch Ron covering Lavender's upper chest with passionate, hungry kisses as he cupped her buttocks in the palms of his hands. Hermione willed herself to take her wand and perform the charm, but she just couldn't do it. Lavender let out little whimpers of pleasure as Ron nibbled lecherously at her neck. Smirking, Lavender's eyes met hers as Hermione pressed her hands against her ears, her head feeling hot and her palms beginning to sweat, but she couldn't bring herself to look away.
"Stop it!", she yelled. And with a quick pop, Lavender quickly took the form of Fleur Delacour as Ron continued to nibble at her neck. Hermione sobbed angrily as she finally took her wand from her pocket and pointed it at them sharply. "Riddikulus!", she said confidently. In almost the blink of an eye, every strand of Fleur's silvery-blonde hair suddenly began to fall out as she bawled and Ron's trousers had fallen to the floor to reveal that he was wearing an adult-sized nappy. Blushing in embarrassment, he ran to the wardrobe, closely followed by a distraught Fleur and closing the doors behind them. Hermione let out a heavy sigh, gathering Ron's old clothes off of the floor where they had fallen out of the wardrobe as she took a moment to compose herself and take in what had just happened. Of course boggarts could change over time, she just had no idea that her greatest fear would ever be simply Ron not wanting her.
Still a little shaken as she made her down from the attic, she couldn't help but notice what a mess Ron had left his room in. She shook her head disapprovingly as she rolled her sleeves up, making her way into his room and wondering where on earth she should start. She knew this would be the perfect opportunity to clear her thoughts. She began to pick up Ron and Harry's dirty laundry off of the floor, placing it in a neat pile in a nearby laundry basket along with the laundry she had taken from the wardrobe upstairs before opening the curtains and dusting down the window sill. She then came across a pile of magazines and random pieces of parchment strewn across the floor just by Ron's bed. Sorting the parchment from the magazines, she placed them in two neat piles on Ron's dresser as she stopped for a moment to watch Viktor Krum zooming across the front page of one of Ron's Quidditch magazines. She had spotted that his face had been violently scribbled over and someone had drawn small squiggly lines around him that made him look like he ponged. Hermione wouldn't usually condone immaturity of any form but she couldn't help but give a little chuckle. The thought of Ron being jealous of her with another man gave her a strange yet warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Finally, she began to make the beds, first starting with Harry's before making her way over to Ron's. As she shook the creases out of Ron's duvet, she noticed the corner of a card sticking out from underneath his pillow. Hermione knew better than to snoop, but she was just so curious. She took the card to discover that it was, in fact, a picture. It had been folded and Hermione saw Harry laughing with his arm around someone she couldn't quite make out whilst it was folded. Her growing curiosity getting the better of her, she unfolded the picture to reveal the missing half. Her heart fluttered within her chest to find that the person Harry had his arm around was Ron and beside him was herself. The three of them were laughing as if they hadn't a care in the world. Although she found it somewhat rude that Ron had purposely folded Harry out of the picture, she could barely focus on that as she stared lovingly in awe at the picture. And somehow, her Boggart suddenly began to feel silly. Why on earth was she afraid that he would ever leave her? This wasn't Padma, or Lavender, or Fleur. The spot under Ron's pillow was reserved for a picture of her and only her. And she suddenly began to wonder when he looked at it and what went through his mind as he did. Did he look at it when she would spend the night at home with her parents? Did he look at it whilst she was in Australia and miss her the way she had desperately missed him? Did it bring him comfort when he felt down? She didn't know and she didn't care. All that mattered to her was that he had her picture under his pillow. It was her face that he turned to in a possible moment of need. She sighed lovingly, still admiring the picture when she suddenly heard a murmur of manly voices from downstairs. She put the picture back in its spot under Ron's pillow as she finished making his bed before picking up the nearly full laundry basket and carried it downstairs. She placed the basket in the kitchen before standing in the doorway of the living room, slanting her back with her arms crossed as she watched Ron, Harry, George and Bill gloat about the Quidditch game they had just won against Seamus, Neville, Dean and Lee Jordan. She smiled softly, shaking her head as she chuckled. She had quickly caught Ron's attention as he smiled brightly at her, leaving Harry, George and Bill to chant triumphantly as he rushed over to her. Hermione threw her arms around his neck as she smiled into his shoulder, taking in his scent and not caring how filthy he was.
"Bloody hell, anyone would think I'd been gone for a month!", he chuckled as she squeezed him. Ron loosened their embrace so he could look at her, moving her hair out of her eyes as he scanned her face. "Everything alright?", he asked.
"Perfect, actually", she smiled sweetly at him.
"You must be the only person I know who enjoys cleaning", he chuckled once more. Hermione chuckled with him before pressing her lips softly against his, allowing her hand to get lost in his hair as he pulled her body closer to his, his hands fitting perfectly against her small hips as if they were made just for him.
"Oi", Ginny's sudden voice interrupted their intimate moment. "Put him down, Hermione. You don't know where he's been!", she joked as she waltzed past them. Ron's cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink as Hermione laughed nervously, feeling slightly embarrassed herself. But she did know where he had been, and that didn't matter now. What mattered most to Hermione was where he was now, and that was with her; holding her, kissing her, making her happy and loving every inch of her just as she did him. And she hoped with everything she had that this is where he would stay, now and for always.